The Impossible Substitute
by Kusco
Summary: The Study Group gets more than they bargained for when a new substitute fills in for their teacher
1. Chapter 1

Jeff's eyes trailed down to the booklet he held in his hand then moved over to Annie; all the while a half smile curved along his lips. Annie struggled and stretched for the planner but Jeff merely held it straight out in front of him at eye level, well out of her reach. All the while she hemmed and hawed over him not giving the planner back.

"Come on Jeff!" she struggled to get it but she just didn't have the reach. "This isn't funny!"

"And I completely agree with you," Jeff said, though his grin protested his words. "I think we might need to get you some help. I mean there's type A personality but this is… type A+"

In spite of the intended jab Annie smiled a bit and glanced away. "A+? You really think so?"

"Annie! I'm not kidding! This is certifiable stuff! You actually have it marked in your planner that we have a substitute teacher today! Tell me one reason, just one, that that's something that not only needs to be remembered, but written down?"

"Because that's who I am Jeff! I like having every possible variable in my week mapped out as well as I can. Substitutes teachers almost never follow the lesson plan so I have to make sure I know what it actually is so I can keep the class on track!"

"Only you," Jeff rolled his eyes, giving Annie the chance she needed to scoot up in front of him and snatch the booklet away. "Remember back when you were trying to always live in the moment? I'm pretty sure that Annie would beat you up."

"You'll see, when we get to our history class the new teacher will ask what chapter we're on and I'll be able to lead him there."

"It's times like this that I really wonder what you were like when you started doing adderall, I have a hard time imagining an even more tightly wound Annie."

"Well if we're going to nitpick at each other I have a hard time imagining what you'd be like if you ran out of that facial lotion you apply when you think none of us are looking. It's okay Jeff, lots of guys still get acne after puberty."

Jeff actually stopped in his tracks and watched as Annie grinned and kept on walking. He hated it when she chose moments to actually dish it back at him. He shook his head, knowing that wasn't true either, the smile creeping back on his face attested to that.

He quickly caught back up to her and the pair slipped into the classroom. As usual, the rest of the study group beat him there; each of them sat at their various tables, in their preferred groupings. Troy and Abed, Britta and Shirley, Pierce and… well today it looked like him and Neil were bffs, who knew what next week would bring..

"The teacher's not here?" Annie said and she and Jeff took the last remaining table. "I hope the school remembered to hirer a substitute."

"Yeah, because that would be tragic if they forgot," Jeff said. "It's a good thing you'll be able to tell us what lesson we're on."

Annie fired a glare at him and Jeff just smiled innocently. He considered getting in another jib but before he could really form a new one, the door swung open and young man in a tweed jacket and a bowtie rushed in holding a stack of papers. The man spilled the papers on to the nearest table, which happened to be occupied by Garrett. He then took a step back, straightened the mop of dark hair he had flopped to one side, and planted his hands on his hips, revealing a pair of suspenders beneath the jacket.

"Alright, you lot," the man said with a British accent as a smile appeared on his face. "Who's ready to learn about history?"

When no one responded immediately the man changed his weight from one foot then back to the other and moved his hands toward his stack of papers as though he was trying to figure out if they might have the answer to his very simple question. He seemed to think better of it and turned his attention back to the classroom.

"This is History 101 isn't it? Tell me I didn't accidentally go to the St. Josephine's All Girl Academy again!? Sister Marie Louise was so cross the last time… don't even have an excuse this time... Never underestimate what a nun will do during an Indian attack… No, wait… I can find this out, all I need to…. Each of you, study your letter books and I'll be right back."

With that their teacher blew out of the room, leaving the door swinging in his wake. The class remained absolutely silent for a moment Jeff glanced over to Annie, who seemed as confused as he was. Pierce muttered something about the teacher being a fruitcake and Jeff glanced back at the rest of the Study Group. Each one wore a befuddled look except Abed who just nodded as if what they just saw made perfect sense.

The door flew open again and their sub strode back in smacking his lips in disgust and wrinkling his nose.

"No, definitely not St. Josephine's, far too much asbestos! Also I should have noticed the severe lack of feline nuns! Alright class! Greendale Community College, Greendale. Colorado, United States of America, year…" The teacher popped a finger in his mouth then held it up in the air as if feeling for a breeze. "… year 2012! Very good! Now everyone open your books to page-"

"Excuse me," Pierce called out, everyone turned toward him with exception of the teacher. "Excuse me! Limey! I'm talking to you!"

"Oh I'm sorry," the teacher looked up from the text book he'd grabbed from Garrett. "What can I do for you?"

"How about you give us a name? It's customary to do that in this country. Something you should no about, we did kick your ass twice and then saved it twice."

"A name, right," the teacher grinned than ran to the chalkboard and began writing his name as he spoke. "You can call me the Doctor."

"The Doctor?" Shirley said. "Is there anything else that goes with that? Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor!" the Doctor underlined his name. "Doctors teach classes. I'm the doctor that teaches this class. Therefore I am the Doctor. Now class, who can tell me which chapter we're on in the book?"

Jeff glanced over at Annie who proudly shot her hand up in the air.

"Yes, Miss Edison," The Doctor pointed at her and Jeff frowned. How did he know her name?

"Chapter 11," Annie said. "We were just getting to the fall of Troy."

"Wait what?" Troy said from behind them. Jeff rolled his eyes.

"Fall of Troy…" the Doctor flipped through the book and then frowned, barely even looking at the pages. "Oh what rubbish! This is what you think happened? It's no wonder you still haven't invented dance pants yet. Okay then class, I want you to take your books and throw them out! Go on go on! Throw them out, they're useless!"

The Doctor marched to the window, slid it open and hefted his text book, which was actually Garrett's, outside. Troy and Abed eagerly followed along with the rest of the class. Jeff grinned over at Annie, who had gone completely pale at the sight of a teacher rallying his students to ditch their books.

"Come along Edison!" the Doctor motioned toward her. "Throw it out!"

Jeff gave Annie a tiny push, happy to see this insanity not only give him a free day from learning, but also wanting to see Annie work herself silly in finding a way out of tossing her book away. So much for writing down the substitution in her planner!

"Really Doctor," Annie said as she approached the window. "We'll need these books for tomorrow! Okay, well it's Friday but we'll need them on Monday."

"Annie Edison," The Doctor smiled widely and leaned against the window seal on one of his gangly arms. His eyes met with hers and then locked. "In forty minutes with me, you'll learn more about the whole of history than you would by reading those books for forty years. Go on Edison, toss the book out, take your seat and let me open your eyes to new ways of learning you never even dreamed of."

That was when Jeff's smile faded, because Annie let out an airy 'okay' then tossed her book out the window. Jeff tried to toss aside what he saw, but he could only watch as Annie cupped her hands over her mouth when her book hit the small pile of her classmate's books; the Doctor grinned and clapped a hand on Annie's shoulder.

"There you go! Ha Ha!"

Then Annie combed her hair over one ear and giggled. She giggled! Jeff's eyes shot to the Doctor how just laughed and motioned her toward her seat. Who was this guy? He had a massive Frankenstienian chin! He couldn't have been older than thirty… or was he closer to Jeff's age? It was hard to tell, all that Jeff did know was at this point was that the guy was tall, a little crazy, and his chin bone was probably in the Guinness book of world records!

Annie took her seat next to him and Jeff beat back the instinct to say anything to her. Even to look at her, instead he turned his attention to his phone and occasionally shot a look at the Doctor, who had slammed the window shut and was now sitting at the teacher's desk with his legs propped up on the table top.

"Now class," the Doctor said. "In order to properly illustrate to you what actually happened at the Fall of Troy, without taking you there, I'm going to need twelve boxes of Legos, two brooms, a tesla coil, thirty mars bars, and a sombrero!"

Jeff changed his mind, this guy wasn't just a little crazy. He was out of his mind! And apparently the rest of the class thought so too, because they remained still in their seats and silent as they could, as they stared at their teacher, trying to figure out if he was for real. The Doctor sat up and placed his hands on the desk.

"Well go on! Time's wasting! I know you can find these things around the school! Chop chop! Time isn't going to just stand still for you lot! Get a move on!"

The class scrambled and Jeff made it out the door with the rest of the study group. He let the chatter amongst themselves before he turned to them and stood just a little taller, ready to take his leadership role.

"Alright guys, you know what this means?" he said. "The teacher just gave us permission to play hooky. I say we head to Se_ñ_or Kevins."

"No way! He's going to teach us history with Legos!" Troy said and his voice cracked just a bit as he spoke. "I can't tell you how long I've waited for a teacher that would do that!"

"I know where Chang's stuff got stored when he got fired," Abed said. "We can get a sombrero there!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Jeff said. "You guys, opportunities like this only come once every so often! Who are we to bite the hand of life when it's feeding us a chance to have time off? Do you want to look back at your lives and wonder where it all went or be like-"

"Sorry Jeff," Britta said. "But we don't really have time for one of your speeches. That guy in there is a little crazy, if all the things he needs are gathered before we get back he might start without us."

The study group let out a collective 'yeah' and broke away to take part in their substitutes bizarre historical scavenger hunt. Annie fell into line besides Abed and Troy and Jeff was left standing there by himself, wondering what the hell just happened.

"Annie," he called out in a last ditch effort. "I bet we can sneak outside and get your text book back."

"Maybe later," she looked back at him and shrugged. "I really want to see where this is going. Live in the moment right? Or as they say in French Allons-y!"

She turned and fled down the hall with her roommates and Jeff just stood there, right in front of the door. For a few seconds he debated on whether or not to go after her but instead jumped back when the Doctor popped his head out the door and looked around.

"Did someone say something in French?" he said then turned to the only other person who heard him. "Jeff! I'm glad you're still hear, I forgot that for the demonstration I'm going to need a pound of chocolate ice cream. You think you could get that for me? I would but my freezer is currently in the swimming pool."

"Fine whatever," Jeff rolled his eyes and stormed off.

"That's the spirit! Geronimo!"

"Geronimo?"

"Of course! Geronimo! Go get 'em! Forward! All that great stuff! You'll love the lesson I have planned! You and your entire study group!"

Jeff shook his head, desperately trying to get a feel for this guy finally he sighed. "For some reason I keep feeling like this is something ripped from that weird Spacetime show Troy and Abed love so much."

"Inspector Spacetime?" the Doctor said. "I love Inspector Spacetime! Try to not to miss it whenever I can, busy life and they've never gotten around to sending me the royalty checks I'm owed."

"Yeah, I bet that's rough," Jeff said. "Alright, ice cream."

"Ice cream," the Doctor said. "Chocolate… no! Better make it rocky road… yes, that will do, this is ancient Greece we're talking about after all."

Jeff just nodded and started off. He didn't get more than a few steps before the Doctor called out to him again.

"Oh and Jeff, better make it quick."

"Why?" he replied. "It's not like the class is going anywhere."

"You'd be surprised the places this class will go..." the Doctor grinned and Jeff thought he caught a glimpse of seriousness, something that made him forget, at least for a moment, how very insane this all was. "... Believe you me, very surprised mate."


	2. Chapter 2

They all stared at each other across the study room table in something of a stunned silence. Jeff wished he stood above it all like he usually did, but he was right there with the rest of the group. Desperately trying to find words for what had happened in their just concluded history class.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Annie picking a stray lego from her hair. She sheepishly dropped it on the table top with a single 'plink' and everyone stared at it as if, maybe, it contained answers. Pierce quietly hummed the tune that the Doctor had taught them during the presentation and Jeff finally felt someone had to break the silence.

"That…" he said. "That wasn't what I thought it would be…"

"I'll say," Troy nodded and absentmindedly licked at the choclolate smear of ice cream that ringed his upper lips. "I never knew that legos could make me cry or that the Trojan's didn't actually invent condoms."

"That was the first time I ever felt that plot holes actually improved a history lesson," Abed said.

Jeff shook his head. The more they spoke, the more he wanted to deny how amazing the lesson was but he recognized that lying about such the obvious fact, how awesome that class was, would stretch too thin even his powers of persuasion.

"I've never believed in God," Britta brought him out of his thoughts. "But after that lesson, I think I might be ready to accept Athena as my Savior… no offense Shirley."

"None taken," Shirley shook her head. "After what we just saw… I understand."

"So…" Jeff glanced from person to person. "Do you think we should… study?"

"I honestly don't see the point," Annie said. "I mean if all we do is just stare at these text books does that make us any better than Agamemnon when he wouldn't listen to Odysseus after he invented hopscotch to confuse the Trojans?"

"Um…" Jeff started. "Did that actually happen? Now that I think of it… some of that stuff seemed unlikely."

"He also invented a Laser Horse!" Troy interrupted.

"I don't think the horse was actually made of lasers," Jeff said.

"I liked it when he told us that the one thing the movie got right was Brad Pitt," Shirley said.

In a matter of seconds the entire study group broke down into recounting their absolute favorite parts of the Doctor's lesson on the Trojan War. From his demonstration, to the little factoids he dropped seemingly out of no where; Jeff had never seen 'Annie' Levels of enthusiasm in the group over any school subject. Was he the only one that noticed that the lesson he gave really didn't make sense?

"You know," Pierce jumped in. "I've taken History 101 at Greendale more than half a dozen times and I have to say that I've never seen the Trojan War taught like that."

"Pierce is right," Jeff motioned toward the old man. "I'm not sure we can believe this Doctor. You remember what he did with the sombrero? How could that have happened in ancient Greece? I think the Doctor might be a few Olsen's short of a Full House."

"Olsen's?" Troy said. "You mean those hot rich girls that sell stuff?"

"I think he means the Osmonds," Pierce said. "And that's not what I was saying. I was saying that I've never heard the Trojan War like that, but this is the first time I've actually believed it ever even happened."

"Yeah come on Jeff," Britta said. "We all know you would have preferred to play hookie but even you have to admit that the Doctor's class was amazing."

The study room silenced and all eyes went to Jeff. His brain buzzed with plenty of things he knew were wrong about the lesson they'd just had. But deep down, his gut only told him one thing, and on the spot as he was, he just blurted out exactly what he really thought.

"Okay the bit with the Mars Bars was pretty epic."

"Right?" Annie jumped in. "I just… I was skeptical when he had us throw our books out but… wow! He was just amazing!"

"Oooh!" Shirley said. "And we all saw the way he looked at you when… oh speak of the devil! Doctor! Oh Doctor in here!"

Jeff craned his neck to see the Doctor passing by the door only to take a few steps backward so he could look into the study room at Shirley. Jeff shifted in his chair just slightly to get a better view as the Doctor placed his hands on either side of the door frame and leaned in slightly.

"Oh hello!" the Doctor said pleasantly. "You're the study group right? From the history class."

"That's us!" Troy said. "We were just talking about your class and such. Not that we don't have other cool things to talk about… it's not like we thought your class was the coolest thing that ever happened and want to have it's babies… we're way too cool for that… cool enough to talk about really cool things that… even you might find… cool or smart… right?"

"Exactly," Abed said as if Troy's yammering actually led to his point. "I was wondering if you thought the Trojan's would have stood a better chance if they would have had more efficient weaponry like semi-automatics."

"Yes," the Doctor rubbed his chin. "Yes I suppose so, but that's hardly the point. They were going to open that horse one way or another no matter what I told them."

"What?" Jeff said.

"What?" the Doctor repeated then looked at his watch. "Oh look at the time. Best be off. Jeff reminded me earlier that I haven't seen the latest episode of Inspector Spacetime… I have the film and just need to-"

"You watch Inspector Spacetime?" Abed said and exchanged looks with Troy.

"Troy and Abed are huge fans," Annie said. "Doctor, I know you want to get going, but we're about to have our study session. We'd love it if you sat in with us for a bit! Maybe give us pointers!"

"Annie-" Jeff started, only to be interrupted by Pierce.

"As official leader of the group," he said. "I can make you an honorary member."

"An honorary member of a study group!" the Doctor's face lit up. "I've never been an honorary study group member before! Alright!"

Before Jeff could mount any sort of protest, either for the Doctor sitting in or Pierce claiming leadership of the group, their substitute teacher strode into the room and took the empty chair right next to him. Unconsciously, Jeff pushed himself a little bit taller in his seat. It was rare for him to meet someone roughly his same height.

"Okay," the Doctor rubbed his hands together as he scooted his chair in. "A study group! A group for studying! I assume you meet regularly? Seven times a day… no that's stupid, you'd never get to class if you did that. So four times? We're on the fourth study session of the day?"

"Just once a day," Jeff said. "Occasionally twice if we have a big project coming up."

"We were just about to go over our notes from your class," Annie added, giving the Doctor a wide smile. "…Or maybe go over a bit of the next chapter. I'm sort of the study group organizer."

"Is that all it is with you people? History?" the Doctor said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all about history but there's so much more we could study than that! Recently I've taken to knitting? Anybody else knit?"

Shirley and Britta shot their hand's up in the air and the Doctor clapped his hands together in delight.

"Oooh," Shirley said. "What do you knit?"

"Yarn," the Doctor cocked his head to the side just a bit like thought the question and not his answer was odd. Then his eyes flashed with recognition. "Oh! You mean what I specifically knit not what I use to knit with. Right. Of course… I actually have my latest piece…"

The Doctor fished into his coat pocket and stretched out a massive multicolored scarf. After three tugs he finally got it all the way out and Jeff strained his neck a bit trying to figure out where he had put the entire thing. His pocket should have been budging at the seams. None of the others seemed to care at all about that, they seemed too enthralled with his knitting project.

"I had one just like it when I was younger," the Doctor said. "Oh those were the days, eating jelly babies, visiting Paris, I thought this was quite the fashion statement at the time. Don't worry, learned my lesson since then, I now recognize the proper use of neckware."

"You mean the bowtie?" Jeff said.

"Yeah," the Doctor quirked a grin. "Bowties are cool."

"That's what I've been saying!" Troy said.

"Anyway, back to the task at hand," The Doctor said. "Studying! Oh, that could be a subject we could look into! A study group that studies the art of studying. What about you, no one be shy? What do you want to study? If you could study any thing at any time and any place, what would it be?"

"History," Jeff said, pointing to their history books. "Like we're supposed to."

"Vaginas!" Pierce bellowed.

"Anatomy!" The Doctor pointed at Pierce. "Excellent. Who else?"

"Oooh!" Shirley raised her hand. "The bible… or the origins of rap."

"Music and literature! Brilliant!"

"Um… history," Jeff said. "Specifically chapter…"

"Godzilla movies!" Troy slapped the table. "All three hundred of them!"

"International Cinema!"

"Oh that's a good one," Abed said. "I'd like to study Left handed people."

"The study of handedness!" The Doctor pointed at Abed enthusiastically. "Personally I've been both left and right handed and can't much see the difference so this should be exciting!"

"Seriously Doctor, we have a mid term coming up and-"

"Anybody else anybody? Annie?"

Annie glanced around the room, realizing everyone was looking at her. Then she met eyes with the Doctor and a sly smile crawled up her lips. Her face flushed just a bit and the moment she spoke she cast her eyes away and curled her hair over her ear.

"Anglophilia."

"The appreciation of British culture and peoples! One of my absolute favorite subjects! No offense to you lot, American's are very lovely but I prefer to see the culture at its source."

The Doctor grinned widely at Annie and congratulated her choice. All the while Jeff found himself narrowing his eyes in Annie's direction. Leave it to her to use big words to flirt. What the hell did she think…

"Anglophilia?" Pierce said. "Doesn't that mean she wants to bone English people?"

"Bone?" the Doctor cocked his head to the side. Then looked to Annie. "I'm sorry Edison but you want to bone? Me? I think not! You can leave all your bones in your body thank you very much!"

Jeff pressed his palms against the table; this was already getting out of hand. He needed to find a way to control the situation…

"Pierce!" Annie fired a glare his way then looked at the Doctor, her cheeks flushing crimson. "I'm sorry. What he means is that…"

"Dude, Annie," Troy said. "You don't need to worry. He knew what you meant the first time."

Jeff shot his eyes to Troy and then to Annie. He needed to say something….

"But we wouldn't blame you if he thought what it sounded like," Britta winked at Annie.

"What it sounded like?" Annie said. "What does that mean?"

"It mean's you Annie'd it," Jeff said without even realizing what he was doing.

"I Annie'd it?" Annie sat up a bit. "I'm sorry but what does _that_ mean?"

"It means that without realizing it you make things sound unintentionally dirty," Abed said. "Jeff coined the phrase last year."

"E' tu Abed?" Jeff frowned at him.

"I don't make everything sound dirty!" Annie said. "It's not my fault I have a large vocabulary and a talented tongue."

In spite of the already awkward situation and the fact that Annie had bought into what this, obvious, maniac was selling hook line and sinker; Jeff hand to stop himself from laughing… along with the rest of the Study Group. All of them held their expressions tight, like a dam, holding back water.

"You guys!" Annie slapped her hands on the table top. "You guys come on!"

At this point the study group looked ready to burst and the Doctor held a look of absolute confusion on his face. In fact, for the first time since this morning, the Doctor looked outright unsure as to what was going on. Deep down Jeff told himself he probably shouldn't enjoy it, but it was all this guys fault in the first place.

He sat there glancing around from chair to chair whilst scratching the back of his head absentmindedly; leaving a tangled mess in its wake. What exactly was Annie seeing in this guy? Jeff couldn't figure it out but he held onto the hope that the current bit of study group weirdness would drive him away. He just needed a little push.

"Sorry Doctor," Jeff said, patting the man on the shoulder. "This sort of thing happens all the time. You're just caught in the cr-"

"Right…" the Doctor finally said and stood up. Jeff couldn't help but smile a bit. Bye bye Doctor. "…now as I was saying before you lot went all humaney woomany on me; what does all of the things you want to study have in common?"

Jeff couldn't believe his ears. After all of that, he wasn't heading for the door? What the hell was wrong with this guy? His eyes went across the room and spotted the fire alarm on the wall. If he could just find a way to get over to it… He shook his head. No, that was a stupid idea. What he really needed was to do a speech, something to show the Doctor and Annie, who was in charge here. He needed to throw in some good celebrity references to make it work, something that would really unite them. Hatred of Ben Affleck? Yeah… no… no nevermind, he'd gone to that well once too often for it to pack the proper punch… maybe if he-

"…Aaaand that, is what all of your different subjects have in common!" The Doctor finished talking and the Study Group erupted in applause, drawing Jeff from his scheming. He looked around to see Pierce wiping a tear from his eye and Annie positively glowing. What the hell just happened?

"Now," the Doctor said. "If you'll all open your calendars we'll begin to discuss-"

Then in mid-sentence the Doctor lurched and grabbed at his jacket. For half a second Jeff thought the man was having a seizure or something. Then he thrust out his wrist and stared at his watch before jumping out of his chair.

"No, no no, no!" The Doctor looked at his watch again. "No it's too early for this! I thought I had more time!"

"Doctor?" Annie was also on her feet by this point. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing!" The Doctor turned to her. "Certainly not a localized collapse of the space time continuum! Just all of you carry about your old lives as if the entire universe didn't need constant saving! Don't worry, as usual, the Doctor's got it! Er…. I mean… I've got a… food… in the oven!"

"What kind of food?" Pierce said.

"I really must be going but I'll see you all tomorrow in class! Be sure to consult your calendars and mark the date! It's of vital importance that you mark it! Now I really must be ooooooffffffff!"

Before any of them could raise more questions or even protest his leaving, the Doctor sprinted out the door, nearly hitting a pillar on his way out and accidentally knocking over a pile of books. To be fair, Jeff noted, the librarians sort of had it coming with the way they randomly stacked books in the middle of the floor. But even more than that, it looked like the Doctor's insanity had done his job for him.

"Well," he scooted his seat up a bit. "I'm glad that's over with."

"What are you talking about Jeff?" Troy said. "He gave the most amazing speech I'd ever heard! And now he's gone! It's all my fault! I wasn't being cool enough!"

"It's okay," Britta said, almost as if reassuring herself. "He'll be back tomorrow."

"Can you guys hear yourselves?" Jeff said. "This is what Stockholm Syndrome sounds like!"

"Ugh," Troy stood up. "I think we're having another BNL situation guys. I'm going home and consulting my calendar just like the Doctor said. And I know he said we won't need them but I'm going to study the crap out of my book, just in case!"

"What a great idea Troy!" Annie's face lit up as she gathered her book bag. "We could all meet at our apartment later and study our calendars!"

"Oh how nice!" Shirley said. "I could make brownies and we could eat it on rocky road ice cream."

The others enthusiastically voiced their agreement with nodded heads and chirps of excitement. Jeff felt his mouth hanging open as he witnessed them disassemble with the plan of meeting together later to _study calendars_! They hadn't even been this crazy when they all took the ladders class!

By the time Jeff managed to gather a modicum of where-with-all the entire study group had packed up and abandoned the study room with him in it. This was like Rich all over again… only with someone who was overtly insane and that Jeff couldn't even see the appeal of! How the hell was this happening!?

"Cheerio pip pip! Top of the dean to you!"

Jeff jumped when he heard the voice and spun around to see the dean dressed in a Mary Poppins costume, complete with umbrella and handbag. Normally, this sort of thing wouldn't have phased him, but Jeff never liked being caught alone with the dean when he was in costume.

"Jeffery?" the dean looked around. "Where's your study group?"

"They… uh… left…" Jeff muttered.

"More importantly, where's the new Substitute Doctor? I dressed like this specifically for him!"

"Not you too!"

"Isn't he amazing?" the dean said. "Did you know he has credentials from Oxford, Cambridge and the London School of Beauty and Make Up? I'm going to see if he can't fix my nails!"

Jeff let out an 'ugh' and packed up his things. Then he paused as he thought on the dean's words. Oxford _and_ Cambridge? Suddenly, it all fell into place. The simplest rule in all of Law, the rule that not only helped you tear down your opponent but also warned you when someone was lying. It all made sense now!

If something was too good to be true, it probably was!

The Doctor shows up one day, with diplomas from not one, not two, but _three_ degrees from highly prestigious universities. He pranced about any room like he owned it and sputtered gibberish that made him seem eccentric and brilliant. He taught history lessons that he just seemed to make up without relying on a book! He was far too good to be true.

Jeff had had it wrong the entire time. The Doctor wasn't a mad man. He was a con man. He should have seen it from the start! Didn't it take one to know one? And now that Jeff knew what this man was, his next step was completely obvious! He was going to take down the Doctor!

"Mark tomorrow's date on the calendar Dean!" Jeff scooped his books up and started for the door. "Because after tomorrow, you'll need a new substitute teacher!"

"Oh yes!" the dean pumped his fist in the air the paused. "Wait… what?"


	3. Chapter 3

Annie hummed quietly to herself as she entered the library Monday morning. She wasn't sure what it was, but today? It was going to be _her_ day! She just felt it in the wind! Or tasted it in the water! Or… or she didn't know, she just knew that things would be looking up today! She even marked it as "Annie's Day" in her day planner that Jeff had so horribly mocked yesterday.

But that didn't matter. She had her day planner in her hands and a backpack full of calendars. One of which she'd marked up perfectly.

Just what the Doctor ordered!

She smiled to herself and even considered using that line when she revealed to the Doctor in class that she had done exactly as he had asked, and not only studied up on calendars, but also acquired photocopies of rare calendars from across the world. She had to go to those lengths, considering the fact that Troy and Abed were actually cobbling together some big calendar themed… project in order to impress the Doctor.

But it wouldn't matter how impressively goofy they were, nothing would compete with the hours of study that she put into their homework assignment. If the Doctor would be impressed with anyone, it would be her!

A moment after that thought crossed her mind, she shook her head. She really couldn't place why exactly she wanted to impress the Doctor so much. It certainly wasn't just because he was tall, skinny, and handsome. No, there had to be other reasons beyond that!

When she was honest with herself, Annie had to admit that she'd always been something of a teacher's pet. That was what was probably at play here. Yeah, just like when she was trying to impress her sixth grade English teacher Mr. Hudson. He just so happened to be tall, skinny, and handsome like the Doctor. But on the other hand, he didn't have those blue, timeless, eyes that seemed to suck her right in; and she just wanted to see them sparkle when he told her that she marked calendars better than any girl in the world.

Annie stopped in place and shook her head. Was she really going to do this? Crush all over a teacher? Things didn't end well with her sixth grade English teacher either. That's how she learned that someone could indeed file a restraining order against an eleven year old! She needed to calm down and just play it cool. Loosey-goosey. She wouldn't try to impress the Doctor, she would just let her results speak for themselves.

So intent was she on not embarrassing herself around the Doctor, that Annie didn't even notice him until she walked right past him.

"Morning Annie," he said as she went by. "Playing it cool are we?"

"Sure am Doctor!" she responded before her brain decided to keep pace with her mouth. Once it did, she froze and looked over her shoulder, confirming who had just greeted her. "Doctor?"

The Doctor straightened his bow tie as stood there, leaning against the wall with one leg crossed over the other and his hair swept over the one side of his head. Annie felt her cheeks flush and she forced herself to take a deep breath and hopefully hide her embarrassment. In a desperate attempt to find something to talk about, Annie glanced at her watch.

"Doctor, it's 9:37, don't you have a class you're supposed to be teaching right now? Not that I looked at your easily accessible online schedule or anything."

"History of Archeology?" The Doctor pushed off from the wall and began walking alongside her. "Bah! I gave up on those dullards days ago! No sense of humility! No willingness to accept that eventually everyone will find their profession as laughable and obsolete as I do."

"So you just decided to abandon the class?" Annie raised her brow.

"Oh of course not Annie," The Doctor waved her off. "I'd never abandon anyone, I got them a substitute."

"But you're a substitute," Annie said. "You got a substitute for a substitute?"

"Yes, and it's working out beautifully," the Doctor said. "Found a man that had previous work experience here at Greendale. Chang I think his name was!"

"Chang?" Annie almost gasped. "But… but he doesn't know the first thing about Archeology."

"And archeologists don't know the first thing about history," the Doctor shrugged. "But enough about that, let's talk about you, shall we Miss Edison?"

"Um… me?"

"Well, you in the sense that we're actually not talking about you so much as we're talking about your homework," the Doctor said.

"…oh…"

"So come one let's see it!" The Doctor said with the inflection of a kid waiting for his Christmas present.

"You sure you don't want to wait until class?" Annie said trying to not feel self conscious as she noticed that they were passing Shirley and Britta, both actively engaged in some sort of argument the merits of a Julian calendar vs. the traditional Gregorian calendar.

"What? Class? Oh… yes… I suppose that would be alright…no… I can't wait! Come on Edison! Just give me a quick peek, something to tide me over until later!"

"But… I don't understand? Why do you want to see mine so badly?"

"Well…" the Doctor looked around. "I don't much like playing favorites but between you and me, you're my star pupil. If any of you is going to… er… pass it's going to be you."

In spite of herself Annie smiled a bit and then started fishing out her calendar from her backpack. The Doctor rubbed his hands enthusiastically as if she was handing him a dirty magazine or a stolen pie. The moment it left her bag he snatched it from her fingers and flipped through the pages.

Annie could only just stand there and feel her heart skip every other beat while she waited for his judgment. For the first couple of seconds she smiled, hopeful that he would be impressed, but the longer he stared at it, the more and more she felt her stomach sink and her smile fade. Finally the Doctor sighed and handed her the calendar without even looking at her.

"It's… it's not good?" She ventured.

The Doctor shook his head, and glanced down at her. "It's my fault really, I should have given you better instructions. I had such high hopes for you Annie but I'm afraid you just didn't look hard enough."

Annie heard herself gasp as she looked down at her calendar, trying to figure what on earth she did wrong. Was it because she marked the important dates in purple? Did he want it in standard black or blue, or even red? She spent all night researching obscure holidays and marking them! What the hell did it mean that she didn't look hard enough?

She looked up and the Doctor was already walking away. Annie bit her lip for a second before calling out. "At least let me know what kind of grade I can expect? A 'b'? A 'b-' it's not that bad is it?"

"Lower third class," The Doctor said over his shoulder. "I'm sorry Annie, but this is far more serious than a letter grade."

For half a second, Annie felt her legs give out underneath her. She sucked in a deep breath and managed to stay on her feet. She wasn't going to faint. But if she understood the UK grading system well enough, the Doctor had told her that she had essentially gotten a 'd'.

The Doctor made it a few steps away. Annie nodded and did her best to not scream… which involved holding her breath; and before she knew it, she didn't feel like screaming anymore. However her head felt quite dizzy and her vision was incredibly spotty and the floor rushed at her very quickly.

…..

Jeff hunched over the table and glared at the laptop screen, an idea struck and he quickly fumbled through his stack of papers on the right. The 'historical' papers the ones he'd printed out at 2 A.M. after his fifth red bull. He knew what the others would think, so he had to have proof! He had to be like Annie and have a solid, presentable case to show the others that he wasn't crazy.

The computer beeped, alerting him that the download was complete and Jeff cheered before hitting the 'print' button. He wiped his hands through his hair and leaned back in his chair a bit. Done. He could prove it now. He would go and show the Dean first. Maybe he could just fire the Doctor but he probably needed to call the police. Either way he wouldn't be at Greendale anymore.

So intently did Jeff stare at the screen that he didn't even notice Pierce walk into the room and sit down at his seat. Nor did he notice Troy and Abed come in either. He only looked up from his research when he heard Britta and Shirley's girlish giggles appear and then suddenly cease. Then he looked up and saw the others staring at him.

"Jeff…" Abed said. "You're doing it again."

Jeff ticked his head to the side and raised a brow. "Do… doing what again Abed?"

Abed just rolled his eyes. "I'm not even going to say it, everybody already knows."

"This isn't like Rich guys!" Jeff sat up straight. "Something is seriously wrong with this Doctor guy and… and… Troy, Abed… why the hell do you have numbers stuck all over your body?'

"We're living calendars!" Troy said. "The Doctor said that we needed to really bone up on calendars so we're actually wearing them! We took a calendar-"

"Then cut it up-" Abed said.

"And glued each date to ourselves-"

"Together we make all of 2013 and a little bit of 2014!"

Both grinned widely then did their handshake.

"I can't believe that Jeff is sitting there looking like the Brundlefly and he's still only the second craziest thing in this room!" Shirley said.

"Right?" Pierce said. "My old man did some crazy things, invest money in Japanese robots that punched people, elephant guns that could brand the Hawthorne logo onto a kill as the bullet went in, but he never did anything like this!"

"Funny you should mention it," Troy said and held up his elbow. "Because the anniversary of his death is right here!"

"Really?" Pierce adjusted his glasses and leaned forward just a bit. "Aw… you're throwing a party for me?"

Troy and Abed nodded but it was all Jeff could take.

"I'm not kidding guys! We have to do something about the Doctor! Where's Annie!?"

"Oh this is gonna be good," Britta said and smiled at Shirley. "You wanna tell him or should I?"

"Go ahead," Shirley said but she had the handles of her massive bag coiled tightly in her fingers and she her entire body bunched up like it might explode. Britta opened up her mouth but Shirley finally burst. "Annie is dating the Doctor! They're going out together and may have already gotten to hanky panky!"

"I walked right into that one," Britta sighed.

Jeff didn't respond right away. He just stared at Shirley, whose big beaming grin gradually faded under his wilting glare. The air in the room suddenly felt heavier and harder to pull into their lungs. No one said anything until Pierce took out a sharpie and marked a date on Troy's shoulder.

"I marked today as the day Annie got some British in her," He said.

"Dammit!" Jeff slammed his fist on the table. "You guys this is horrible!"

"Oh come on Jeff," Britta said. "Annie's not a little girl anymore, it's past time she gets out and has some flings."

"How do you know?" Jeff turned on her. "How do you know she's fooling around with that Doctor?"

"They were walking together in the hall," Shirley said. "And talking suggestively."

"Suggestively? How? Or did she just Annie it?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," Britta folded her arms. "A sister never tells on another sister."

"Well you better tell me sister!" Jeff said. "Because we need to find them before the Doctor hacks her up into little bits!"

Jeff actually sat back when everyone in the room released a collective 'whoa' and began berating him for besmirching the Doctor's reputation. Jeff knew he probably should have expected it but he was still taken aback by Shirley flipping him off. After a few moments of enduring hate speech that would make Hitler blanch, Jeff closed his hand together and they shut up. He still had it.

"I'm not kidding," he said. "This Doctor is bad news. I was up all night looking into him. This is some weird stuff even for Greendale. I'm talking X-files or Twilight Zone level crack."

"What do you mean?" Abed said.

"This Doctor?" Jeff said. "He's all over the internet. Look at this!"

Jeff flipped his laptop around so they could all see. He waited as they all gathered around, leaning over the table to get a better look. He only had to wait for them to really soak it all in before he went on.

"He's wearing a fez," Abed said.

"Fezzes are cool…" Troy said.

"I don't get it," Britta shrugged. "So it's a black and white picture of the Doctor wearing a fez standing next to a camel."

"Wait…" Pierce said. "I know that camel! It makes out with Hope and Crosby in _Road to Morocco_!"

Abed leaned forward and then shook his head. "How did I not see that? He's right!"

"But isn't that movie like a billion years old?" Troy said.

"71 years," Abed said.

"It was my Mom's favorite movie," Pierce said.

"This is a production photo," Jeff said. "Taken on set by Bing Crosby himself! This man showed up, spoke to the camel just as it was about to trample Bob Hope and then hung around while they sang the title song."

Britta pulled her fake glasses off and squinted at the picture. "Well that just has to be a coincidence. Some guy that looks like the Doctor that was on the set for a movie several decades ago. Maybe he's an grandfather or something."

"Yeah?" Jeff looked over the screen and brought up another photo. This one had the Doctor standing next to a man in the New York Stock Exchange, the man gripped him tightly while others behind them, in the background shook their fists at the illuminated stocks. "October 19th 1987, Black Monday, the Dow fell 508 points. Look who was there."

"That was 26 years ago," Abed said. "He hasn't aged a day."

"Another coincidence," Britta said.

"Jeff this is really getting creepy," Shirley said.

"You haven't seen the half of it!" Jeff said. "This guy keep showing up decades apart, always looking the same, always right when some thing big happens."

"But it can't be the same guy," Troy said.

"It is!" Jeff riffled through some papers. "There's even an account of him presenting George Washington the sword of General Cornwallis, ending the Revolutionary War!"

"Oh come on Jeff, what are you saying?" Britta crossed her arms. "That the Doctor, who is a substitute in our history class is some sort of… immortal being?"

"Like the Highlander?" Abed said.

"This is insane!" Britta said. "You know this can't be real!"

"It is Britta!" Jeff said. "And now that man is off with Annie somewhere doing God knows what! I have pages and pages of this stuff!"

"Like I said," Shirley spoke up again. "This is really creepy."

"At least someone agrees with m-"

"Creepy because you're so jealous of the Doctor that you went and photoshopped all of these pictures of the Doctor and invented this cockamamie story about him." Shirley glared. "Can't you ever be happy that Annie finds a cute guy, I mean damn, you have some serious issues!"

"Oh come on!" Jeff said. "I'm not jealous! And I didn't fake all these pictures! Check out the websites yourself!"

"I am," Abed said, clicking on the various links Jeff had bookmarked. "Jeff, I'm fairly open-minded but these are all conspiracy theory websites that make the X-files seem plausible."

"I swear I'm not making any of this up!" Jeff said. "The Doctor is no good! The Doctor is dangerous! The Doctor is-"

"Coming through!" the Doctor charged into the room carrying Annie in his arms. Jeff bolted out of his chair, knocking it down. The others in the room similarly stumbled back. Maybe they thought Jeff was crazy, but the Doctor charging into the room holding an unconscious Annie certainly played into that craziness.

"What the hell happened?" Jeff said as the Doctor laid Annie out on the table. "What did you do to her?"

"Me? Nothing," The Doctor said then looked to Troy. "Go get some water!"

Troy practically tripped over himself, running out the room, leaving a trail of calendar dates behind. Not that anyone noticed. Shirley and Britta hovered over Annie until the Doctor shooed them away, Abed was holding Pierce back from running around screaming in panic, and Jeff had to grip the edges of the table to stop himself from tearing into the Doctor.

"Alright," the Doctor said, fishing in his coat pocket until he retrieved a slender metallic object that glowed green at the tip. He ran it up and down Annie's body then snapped it up in front of him and the device popped open. "Chronitonic energy normal… not fading out of sink… I would say… good news everyone, she just passed out!"

"How is that good news?" Jeff said. "What did you do to make her faint?"

"I told you Jeffery, nothing," the Doctor said as Troy appeared with a bottle of water. Upon seeing him, the Doctor whipped a handkerchief from his pocket and held it out in front of Troy.

"Sorry it took so long, they don't sell any water in the vending machines anymore," Troy panted as he dumped water on the handkerchief. "It's all be replaced by Tatorade."

"Ooh!" The Doctor's face lit up. "Is that the potato based Gatorade knock off? How is it?"

"Not as bad as you'd th-"

"Oh my god!" Jeff interrupted Troy and the Doctor, swiping the wet hanky from his hands. "Can you guys focus for one damn minute! Annie's unconscious and you're talking about a drink product that doesn't have any right to exist!"

"Sorry, I just sometimes get distracted by… " the Doctor rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, taking a step back as Jeff laid the hanky over Annie's forehead, brushing the back of his hand against her cheek.

"It will be alright, Jeff," the Doctor said. "She just fainted."

"Shut up," Jeff said, now squeezing Annie's hand and not looking at the other man.

"No, it really will be alright," the Doctor said. "In a few minutes she'll wake up and be right as-"

"I said shut up!" Jeff released Annie's hand and wheeled around on him. The Doctor backed up, pointing his finger as if to speak but Jeff didn't give him the chance. "I know this is all your fault Doctor!"

"Yes, but you see Jeff, Annie is…"

"Annie was fine until you came along! We all were and now look what you did!"

"Precisely what I'm saying… if you'd just look, Annie…"

"I know all about you! Who you are, what you are! I know you did this to her, but after they lock you up, your trial will take a few months to get to court and I swear I'll be a lawyer again and I'll work with the prosecution to put you away for life!"

What Jeff couldn't notice, was that as soon as his back turned, Annie popped one eye open. It darted his direction and she sighed before opening her other eye and sitting up. The other's gasped but Jeff was too busy threatening the Doctor to hear. Annie gave a little cough, but he didn't notice. She coughed a little louder, and Jeff still glowered at the Doctor. Finally she gave a cough that was an all out 'harrumph'.

"Not now Annie," Jeff said over his shoulder. "I'm giving the Doctor a piece of… Annie?"

Jeff spun around to see Annie sitting up on the table, arms crossed, glaring daggers at him. Jeff glanced around at the others, whose expressions either mirrored Annie's or else looked as puzzled as he was.

"You're awake!" he said.

"Of course I'm awake!" Annie rolled her eyes and slung her feet over the edge of the table. "But even if I wasn't that doesn't give you the right to harass the Doctor, a _teacher_, just because you're jealous!"

"I'm not jealous Annie," Jeff said, this time it was more than jus Annie's eyes that rolled. "I was up all night looking into this guy and found some really scary stuff. I had every reason to believe that when he brought you in here unconscious that he'd done something to you."

"And if Rich had done the same thing? This is so classic you!" Annie said. "And besides, I wasn't even unconscious when he brought me in I…"

Annie trailed off as soon as the words left her mouth. Jeff cocked a brow up, then slid his eyes to the Doctor, who's hair, a little shaggier than usual from scratching his head, and eyes attested that he was just as new to this information as everyone else.

"But you passed out in the hallway," the Doctor said. "After I told you your homework wouldn't get you a passing grade. You're saying that you were conscious the entire time?"

"Oh Lord," Shirley threw her hands up. "Is that all this was about?"

"No!" Annie said. "I really did pass out! Just… just not for very long."

"I thought you weren't breathing!" the Doctor said. " Before I brought you here I administered CPR!"

"Actually, you didn't quite get it right; your hands were just a little bit too far…" Annie caught herself and her cheeks flushed crimson.

Deep down, Jeff knew his reaction should have been different. After all, it was clear the Doctor was as much a victim in all of this as anyone. Maybe it was the fact that he'd had less than an hour of sleep in the last 24 hours, maybe that that was partially due to the eleven red bulls he drank and the entire thing impaired his judgment. But all of that, combined with imagining the Doctor with his lips all over Annie's and his hands on her chest… the next thing he knew he was rushing at the Doctor with fists bared.


	4. Chapter 4

Annie refused to look at Jeff. Unfortunately she also refused to look at the Doctor. Which meant that she couldn't look to her left or her right; she just had to stare straight forward and hope that Britta and Shirley would get her out.

Which, at the moment, didn't look to be any time soon.

They'd been in Greendale's 'detention center' for over an hour, and still no sign of Britta or Shirley to come sign their release papers. Of course, given how upset they were about the entire affair, what with all the punching, kicking, and swearing; even the fact that all three of them had been tazed didn't earn them sympathy points. Annie figured she should probably bunker in for the night, which only thankful that they'd allowed her to keep her backpack and homework. So at least the night wouldn't be a total loss.

Ignoring Jeff's snoring and the Doctor's tapping feet, she rummaged through her backpack, searching for her history book. Her hands brushed against her day planner and then her calendar. Once she spotted them her lips tightened up and she forced herself not to glare at the Doctor. She still couldn't understand how she got a Lower Third Class. Did he not see the little star she put next to October 19th? How was that not perfectly marking the calendar?

Annie sat back and glanced over Jeff's direction. He lay sprawled out over a trio of chairs, quietly snoring and snoozing away the bruises he'd receive when he attacked the Doctor. Annie wasn't sure who had given them to him, the Doctor or herself. She just couldn't believe how insane he'd gotten over all of this. Worse than Rich!

Outside in the office, Annie thought she saw Officer Cackowski leaving for a break. Meaning that, no one was coming for them at all. He would have hung around otherwise. What a perfect way to waste a night, stuck between two guys she was mad at and a bunch of homework; some of which was going to get her a worthless grade.

"For what it's worth," the Doctor suddenly said. "I'm sorry about what happened back there in your study room. I didn't mean to hurt Jeff, I used to be into Venutian Martial Arts when I was younger and I'm afraid some of those old reflexes came back when he attacked me."

Annie nodded, "I think I punched him pretty good too. I'm sorry you got stuck in the middle of all of this. Jeff and me… and well all of us have some very serious issues I guess."

"Believe me," the Doctor said. "I've had my share of dysfunctional relationships. Though to be fair, most of them are because I thwarted their plans for universal domination… at any rate… I'm sorry for causing any trouble with your friends."

"It's alright," Annie folded her arms and leaned back in her seat. "We'll get past it. This isn't the first time we've lost our collective minds."

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, the entire time the Doctor tapped his foot or drummed his fingers on his knees like a kid that just had too much energy to sit still. Annie glanced at her backpack, then took a deep breath and retrieved her calendar.

"Doctor," she held it up. "I have to know, what's wrong with my calendar? I worked really hard on it and you failed me. I have to know why."

"Annie," the Doctor shook his head, but his voice was strangely soft. "I know you worked hard, everyone in your group did, and I'm truly touched that you would all jump so head first into any homework I assigned. But it was never about the actual work or even the end product. I was trying to get through to you."

"Get through to me? What does that mean?"

"You need to open your eyes Annie, really open them and look at what's around you. Things are not right here at Greendale Community College, and no amount of homework is going to fix them."

"I don't think that's fair," Annie said. "I mean yeah, our flag has a butt on it and we had to fight off an infestation of squirrels over the summer, but we have a lot of heart. Even if we're a bit crazy."

"That's not what I'm talking about," the Doctor said. "I'm really sorry but-"

"No, I'm sorry," Jeff said. Annie glanced at him and raised a brow as he sat up. He blinked at the bright lights a few times but focused in on the Doctor. "Annie's right, we are all seriously messed up, me especially, and I kind of let that play out on you."

"Perfectly alright Jeffery," the Doctor smiled.

"Though if I can be blunt with you," Jeff said. "I think you should tone down the whole… nutty professor thing you've got going on."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "The what?"

"You know," Jeff said. "The whole… talking with your hands at a million miles a minute, throwing out random words like 'Venutian Martial Arts' claiming that you have first hand knowledge of the fall of Troy. Things like that. It makes all the internet research I dug up on you seem legit."

"Internet research? Annie said. "Jeff, really?"

"You're high-roading me there Squints?" Jeff said. "You let Wendy Peffercorn there get to second under the pretense of you being unconscious."

"What are you?"

"Sandlot!" the Doctor clapped his hands and pointed. "It was on the list of movies Abed texted to me to watch over the weekend. Fantastic movie, not sure on the rules of baseball though I didn't think that dogs were regularly a part of the game."

"This is what I'm talking about," Jeff said. "I mean, I have British friends and even they know that's not part of baseball. Also I though they were supposed to roll the ball on the ground."

"What research are you talking about?" Annie said.

"It's stupid," Jeff rolled his eyes but fumbled in his pocket, retrieving some folded papers. "I printed these off before everyone got to the study room. It must be some sort of elaborate hoax. Maybe the Doctor got some really craptacular reviews at . It was all made to make it look like he was some sort of… I don't know… harbinger of doom."

Annie took the papers and began looking over the printed photographs. One of the Doctor in an old black and white picture wearing a fez, the other with him standing at the New York Stock exchange. She crinkled her brows together as she looked at them and tried to make sense of it all. Especially the papers that came after describing men even further back that matched the Doctor's description. Jeff actually thought any of this was real? How was it that Troy and Abed super glued dates on themselves and somehow both she and Jeff managed to be crazier than them?

It was only after looking at the documents for a couple moments that Annie became aware of the Doctor hovering over her shoulder, looking at the pictures. He wore an odd smile on his face, almost like looking at old baby pictures or a yearbook. She looked back at the picture of him with the fez. Almost commenting at how silly he, or this relative of his, looked

Below the picture an italicized sentence identified the picture of being on the set of _Road to Morocco_, October 19th 1942, something clicked in her mind and she flipped back to the picture of the New York Stock Exchange. Her eyes roamed over the picture the screaming men, the red lights, the torn papers. She was no historian but she'd recently done a paper on the 80's.

"October 19th 1987," She said out loud.

"Black Monday," Jeff said.

"And this other picture was taken on October 19th," she said.

Jeff leaned over and looked at the picture. "I guess so… huh…"

"And this!" Annie flipped to another page. "The soldier that surrendered Lord Cornwallis' sword to Washington… that was on October 19th!"

"Okay that _is_ weird," Jeff said.

Annie glanced over to the Doctor, he was out of his seat entirely now, an eager smile had overtaken his previous one and he nodded to the papers encouragingly. She turned back to them and scanned them over again and again. Each record happened on October 19th. Each appearance Jeff had looked up on the Doctor was October 19th. Had he fallen into an unnecessarily dark Jim Carrey movie?

"This doesn't make any sense," Jeff said. "October 19th isn't some important day. I mean hell, today is October 19th and none of us are doing anything special besides spending time in detention… wait… it snowed this weekend."

"It snows in October sometimes," Annie said.

"Not at Greendale, it barely snows in December… that's weird…"

The Doctor's previous words about something not being right came back to Annie and she ruffled through the papers again, searching for more clues. When nothing else jumped out at her she sat back and tried to work it out on her own. Repeat frauds of the Doctor on October 19th, the same day as today, and snow when there shouldn't have been, almost like it was the dead of winter… it didn't add up. Then her eyes fell on her calendar.

As quickly as she saw it she snatched it up and opened it up. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary; October 19th, just like it should read. Then she noticed she'd opened it up to the first page. October should be one of the last. Her head tingled and she squinted at the page until all once the numbers and letters changed and she realized what she was really looking at.

"It's January…" she said. "We're at the end of January!"

"What?" Jeff leaned over her and grabbed an edge of the calendar so he could look at it. "I'm not sure what you're talking about Annie, look at the date. It's October 19th."

"No it's not!" Annie shook her head. "Jeff, think about it. This is the first page of the calendar. And look what I've done to every single date. I marked them all as if they were October 19th. I thought I was just marking important dates, but I was marking the _same_ date over and over again. It's January!"

"No it's…" Jeff glared at the calendar. "No… but…"

"Think about it Jeff. How long have you thought it was October 19th? Doesn't it seem like that was every day? Even when it felt like it shouldn't be?"

Jeff furrowed his brows and looked at the calendar again... he glanced at the Doctor then back at the calendar and then at the evidence he'd collected. Some of those dates he _knew_ happened on October 19th, but others… he'd found a description of the Doctor appearing at the crash of the _Hindenburg_… that didn't happen on October 19th right? Neither did _Independence Day_… the movie.

Without a word he took his papers and flipped to the one in question. Over the actual date he'd scribbled, October 19th 2012. It was in his handwriting and everything! He'd done it with other dates as well. He felt Annie's hand on his arm, her face was lined with worry.

"Jeff?"

He pulled out his phone and stared at the date. He'd actually written over it with a marker. But after rubbing it away, it read October 19th, until he stared at it and realized that it didn't actually say that at all.

"It's January 2013," he said.

"I know," Annie nodded. "Jeff what's going on?"

"I'll tell you what's going on!" the Doctor finally piped up, his face beaming. "You worked it out! The pair of you worked it out! Come here!"

Before Annie could react, the Doctor wrapped both herself and Jeff in a group hug. His lips suddenly pressed against hers, she heard Jeff grunt something only to see the Doctor turn and kiss him too! Jeff pulled back, and Annie followed, darting her eyes back and forth between Jeff and the Doctor.

"What do you mean we've worked it out?" Jeff said, rubbing his mouth with the back of his hand. "Doctor, what is really going on here? How can it be January 2013 instead of October 19th 2012 like we thought it was?"

"Well it's really very simple," the Doctor said then rubbed his chin. "Actually no, it's not terribly simple at all. It's really actually very complicated, but the point is that the two of you have realized what was wrong! It means we can go about fixing it now!"

"Fixing it?" Annie said as the Doctor whipped out his little glowing tool and suddenly the locks on the door snapped open. The Doctor ran to the door and swung it wide before turning back to them.

"Well come along you two!" he said. "Greendale won't realign itself with the spacetime continuum itself! I'm going to need your help!"

"But we're still in detention…" Annie said yet her feet followed after the Doctor at least as far as the door. "Doctor we can't just go!"

"Of course we can Annie," the Doctor said. "But stay if you like, repeat the same dull day every day or come with me and do something amazing!"

The Doctor set out into the office, Annie exchanged a glance with Jeff before the pair of them hurried after him. Jeff caught up with him first with Annie just behind, doing her best to match the pace of four long legs. She was just thankful she didn't wear heels like she'd considered in the morning when she wanted to impress the Doctor.

"So what's all this about realigning ourselves with the timeline?" Jeff said. "It sounds like goofy sci-fi technobabble."

"Never underestimate tecnobabble Jeffery," the Doctor said. "You can explain away the entire universe with technobabble. I've gotten myself out of the most unlikely situations with technobabble."

"But why were we seeing October 19th on everything?" Annie said. "My planner, the calendars, the pictures."

"That's where things begin to get complicated," the Doctor said as they made their way through the halls. "Greendale… the entire school is under the influence of an immense temporal field that's pulled you out of synch with the rest of the world. It started on October 19th and you literally haven't moved in time since. You didn't notice it because of a perception filter subconsciously tricked your minds into not only not noticing the incongruities but actively writing them in without you even realizing it."

"What?" Jeff shook his head. "Even if I understood what you said… that's crazy, that's impossible!"

"More impossible than you staring at calendars and dates on the internet and thinking it was a different date?" the Doctor stopped and put his hand on Jeff's shoulder. "Now I know you have a hard time believing in the fantastic but you need to understand that the universe is fantastic and the more you ignore it the easier it is for it to overtake you. Open your eyes Jeffery and you'll see that there's a lot more in front of you than you could have guessed."

"Okay," Annie said. "So if I understand right… you're saying that Greendale is stuck in time? On October 19th like in _Groundhog's Day_?"

"Love that movie," the Doctor said. "I've actually become quite the cinephile since coming here thanks to your man Abed. And in a manner of speaking you're correct, except nobody played the part of Tom Hanks… no… not him… can't remember the main actor's name. Chevy Chase? Nevermind, not important. No one _knew _your day was repeating so no one could change it. That's why I had you study the calendars. Someone had to snap out of it before it could be fixed."

Jeff shook his head, his brows furrowed in concentration. "Okay… but if we're in Groundhog's Day… then  
everything would have reset right? The calendars shouldn't have been showing the actual date."

"Wibbley Wobbley, timey whimey," the Doctor said and approached the supply closet door. "Time marched on without the students at Greendale but it didn't march on for them. The perception filter made you all think it was October 19th while reality slowly warped around you."

"I'm really not following any of this," Jeff said. "And I'm still not convinced this isn't some trip brought on by the potato water and black mold."

"Still don't believe in the impossible?" the Doctor quirked half a smile. "What's it going to take to convince you? Something even more impossible than what you've seen?"

"Maybe," Jeff said. "Why?"

"Because you're going to love this!" the Doctor rubbed his hands together and threw the closet doors wide open. The room sat in mostly darkness, with exception of a light that shone atop a big blue box. Annie scanned her eyes up and down it, trying to figure out what it meant.

"Just a box," she said. "A police box?"

"_My _Police Box!" the Doctor said then lifted up a hand and snapped his fingers. The doors swung open behind him. "Come on in."

The Doctor stepped into the box and Annie found herself again looking to Jeff, who looked just as confused as he was. The Doctor wanted them to all cram into a box? For some reason her heart beat just a little faster and she almost felt the urge to run. But Jeff nodded to her and went in. Then she took a breath and followed.

Both she and Jeff walked out of the box a half second later and ran around it from different directions, meeting each other behind. If her heart was beating quicker before she went in, now it raced! Jeff had the same dumbfounded look she knew she had and the two of them both ran back inside the massive, alien interior of the box.

"You don't need to worry," The Doctor grinned slyly. "This is a judgment free zone, you can say whatever is on your mind at the moment. It may help."

Both Jeff and Annie spoke at the same time and in one breath.

"It's bigger on the inside!"

"I must be on Adderall again!"

"What?" the Doctor said and came away from the central console that dominated the room. "No Annie, Jeff had it right! You most certainly are not on drugs!"

"This… this is impossible!" Annie said. "What… how… Doctor… who are you?"

"Everything I researched is true isn't it!" Jeff said. "Those weren't pictures or descriptions of your ancestors… they were you! This… this box is…"

"Impossible?" the Doctor raised is brows. "This box is called the Tardis, it's a time machine that can go anywhere and anywhen. I'm a Time Lord from the Planet Gallifrey, I'm over a thousand years old and I've come to Greendale to help you get your time back. How's that for impossible?"

Annie shook her head. It was just all too much to take in at once. A timemachine that was bigger on the inside, Greendale being out of synch with reality, her having been attracted to a man a few centuries older than her…

"Don't worry, you'll pick it all up," the Doctor said. "And Annie… see to Jeff, I have to get us underway."

The Doctor began pulling levers and pushing buttons. Annie turned to see Jeff hunched over a railing looking like he might vomit. She rushed to him and placed a hand on his back, rubbing small circles around it while he heaved heavy breathes.

"Okay…" Jeff said after a moment. "I… I may have misjudged this guy a bit. Holy crap Annie! What did we just get ourselves into?"

"I don't know," she said. "And I'm a bit terrified too, but you saw the calendars, you know something's wrong, if the Doctor can help us fix it we need to do what we can. For Greendale… for the study group."

"Yeah," Jeff nodded. "For the study group. But if you want, when we go out there to face…whatever it is we're going to face, I'm man enough to let you lead the charge. I'm not afraid to let a woman go first when we're facing the unknown."

Annie smiled and rolled her eyes, then froze a half a second later as the Doctor waved his whirring, green light past both herself and Jeff. The two of them turned to see him holding the light up as if examining it then taking his little rod over to the console and putting it in a slot.

"Just taking temporal readings off of you," the Doctor said without even looking at them. "It should allow me to lock onto the source of the distortion. Just a minute… there we go! Hang on you two!"

The Doctor threw a lever and the room jostled, nearly throwing Annie off her feet. Jeff caught her around the waist and she latched onto the railing. The shuddering stopped but the floor hummed rhythmically along with the strange wheezing noise that came from the engines.

Just as soon as Annie had a chance to take it all in, the room jolted one more time then stopped. The Doctor flipped a different switch then spun around to face them.

"Alright, we're here, there are a pair of torches by the door. Grab them, follow me, and remember one thing above all others, no matter what we see out there, no matter what happens, do exactly as I say. Got it?"

They both nodded and followed the Doctor to the doors. In a little slot they spotted the flashlights and flicked them on then off to make sure they worked. Annie felt Jeff's fingers bump against hers and she fought the urge to snatch them up. She needed to be brave. The Doctor opened the door to a dark room and took a step out, holding his little rod at the ready.

"What is that thing?" Jeff asked as they stepped out into the dark.

"Sonic Screwdriver," the Doctor replied. "Trusty little gadget just in case something goes wrong."

Annie shined her light across the room. Cement floors and walls with rows and rows of shelves all along. She broke away from Jeff and the Doctor just a bit so she could get a better look at the shelves. Mostly they had boxes but some had P.E. equipment and others folders and files. But it didn't take her more than a second to see the G.C.C logo on it.

"We're still at Greendale?" she turned her light on the Doctor.

"The basement I should think by the looks of it," he said. "Makes sense after all, whatever is affecting your timeline would have to be localized."

"Watch your step Annie," Jeff said.

"No need to worry yet Jeffery," the Doctor said. "I'm not picking up any threatening life signs on my sonic."

"Yeah, well apparently you need to have it scan for small animals," Jeff said. "There's a psychotic cat down here. It attacked me last year during the mob themed paintball fight."

"A cat?" Annie raised a brow and couldn't help but smile. "You're afraid of a cat?"

"This cat's insane!" Jeff said. "And maybe even is part of all of this! When I saw it before, I got this weird feeling of déjà vu, like I'd seen it before but couldn't remember!"

"Right," the Doctor smiled, clearly as amused as Annie. "I'll be sure to set my sonic to look like ferocious felines."

No sooner did he say that, then a horrible screech rang out and a ball, a tiny but vicious, ball of fur and claws shot out at the Doctor from a nearby shelf. The Doctor didn't even have time to yell as the cat scratched and bit at him. Annie nearly dropped her light and Jeff rushed to the Doctor's aide, all the while he flailed about screaming something about 'regeneration' and 'worse than daleks'.

Jeff was almost to him and Annie started running as well; until, just out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something. Or at least thought she did. She turned to look at it directly but just saw an empty space between two shelves. The Doctor and Jeff shouted and she turned to them both desperately trying to get the cat off of his face. She started off toward them, swearing that she saw that… thing again as she went.

This time she stopped, glanced at Jeff and the Doctor, who nearly had the cat off, then turned directly at the object and approached. As she did she felt this weird buzzing in her head and the closer she got the stronger it got. It still looked like an empty wall between two shelves but she _knew_ there was something there. Her mind went back to the Doctor's words and him talking about a perception filter. Could that be it?

Off in the distance, she heard the Doctor and Jeff shouting her name but she closed her eyes and focused on the buzzing and remembered how the words and letters on her calendar reorganized before her very eyes when she really concentrated. Slowly, all the while the world buzzed and she heard footsteps nearing, she lifted her eyes open.

Before her stood a massive machine, with oily gears and dark burn marks, from its top, it chugged out black smoke that piped up into the school. But what really caught her attention was the noise, a wheezing almost exactly like the Tardis, that was the buzzing she'd heard before. And something else, a melodic three note tone that sounded vaguely familiar.

"Annie!" Jeff's voice cut through the tone and the wheezing. She actually jumped when he latched onto her shoulder from behind. The Doctor appeared on her other side, also gripping her tightly.

"What is that?" Jeff said.

"I think," the Doctor drew his sonic screwdriver in the air. "That Annie has discovered the source of our problems."

"It sounds like your Tardis," Annie said.

"Well, yes…" the Doctor said. "I very much suspect that it has some stolen tech in it. I recognize this device now, I'd had my suspicions but I needed proof. It's calibrated for the mental patterns of Greendale students so I could never find it before."

"So what is it?" Jeff said.

"A Nihilistic Brain Computer," the Doctor said. "A device so wretched, it literally sucks in all brainwaves and intelligence around it to convert into temporal energy."

"You mean it makes people dumber in order to power a time machine like yours?"

"Not like mine!" the Doctor said. "No, the Tardis is far more advanced and doesn't require such barbarous or crude methods to power herself. This was built by a very desperate, horrible person. Don't worry, I've already taken care of him. This machine however, it's been slowly working on the students for years and has only just reached a critical level that it's affecting time around it."

"Nihilistic Brain Computer huh?" Jeff said. "I think you're right. I feel dumber just being around it."

"The effect on the two of you is muted because you've broken through its temporal field. But if we remain here too long we won't be able to even remember our names."

"So what do we do?" Annie said. "How do we shut it off?"

"We can't," the Doctor said. "But we can destroy it… overload it. It's already working overtime because I suspect your school attendance is at an all time low. Fewer minds to feed off of."

"And we do that how?" Jeff said.

"Concentrate, concentrate on universal truths. Great lessons in life you've learned, the Nihilistic Brain Computer can't handle truly creative, intelligent thoughts, it's much easier for it to consume simple, lackadaisical, stupid brain patterns."

"Good thing the Dean isn't down here," Jeff muttered, Annie and the Doctor glared at him. "Okay I'm kidding! So we just have to think this thing to death?"

"Don't be silly Jeff," the Doctor said. "You're feeding it complex neural patterns that will cause its mental conversion circuits to overload. It would have to be alive for you to think it to death."

"Okay, so…" Annie looked to the Doctor and Jeff. "We just start?"

"What? Yes, start whenever you're ready," the Doctor said and waved his sonic in front of the Nihilistic Brain Computer. "And… ah…, I think you should do it soon, its levels of stupidity and irrelevance are reaching critical, if we don't act now it may be too late."

Annie nodded and closed her eyes. At first she tried of thinking of complex equations she had been studying in her latest mathematics class, but deep down she didn't feel those did the trick. She tried thinking on her classes on hospital administration, the buzzing returned and it suddenly became harder and harder to recall specifics from those lessons.

"Doctor…" she heard Jeff say. "Something… what's… going… happening?"

"It's fighting back!" the Doctor's words came as if from far away, and she felt his hand on the back of her neck, squeezing it affirmingly. "You have to concentrate, it will go after specific knowledge first looking for an opportunity to exploit, you have to think of emotional lessons, things that it can't strip bare because they make up who you are!"

The buzzing only increased and Annie furrowed her brows, finding it hard to concentrate on… really anything. She tried to think of her favorite school subject, her favorite assignment, her favorite project… none of them came to her… they were there… as if hanging just out of reach but she couldn't even picture them.

Then her mind went to the first diorama they did as a study group in Duncan's "Anthropology" class. The Evolution of the Stick. She smiled as she thought on it, how they'd argued whether or not sticks could form tribes and they'd decided that the stick would eventually evolve into a crossdressing tree. She'd learned that the study group could make anything fun. Her mind went to another evolutionary diorama. When Annie's Boobs had stolen her pen. She'd learned that her friends would go to any lengths of reason to stick together.

"Concentrate Jeff!" the Doctor said, momentarily breaking her concentration. "Think truly hard! What is most important to you?! Your friends will be stuck in time if you cannot think!"

Annie squeezed her eyes tighter, her diorama with Britta on the oil spill, the diorama with the parasailing raccoons that Pierce made for them, her diorama for the bio-diorama-rama… where she learned that friendship was more important than academic fraud.

Strong fingers suddenly gripped hers, and she knew it was Jeff. Her mind flooded with feelings and lessons learned, not in classes but in the cafeteria, in the quad, in a paint splattered hallway, and especially in the study room. At Greendale she learned about having friends, about connecting with someone truly special when you never saw it coming or thought it possible. Troy, Abed, Britta, Shirley, Pierce, and Jeff, they taught her what it was to have family that accepted her no matter what. They taught her to relax, to enjoy herself, and most importantly, to like herself.

That's what Greendale had taught her. What the Nihilistic Brain Computer could never take away. The memories she had with her Study Group. Her family.

"That's it! That's it! Ha haaa!" she thought she heard the Doctor but she was still locked in thought, until she felt smoke stinging her nose and Jeff's hand pulling her away.

Her eyes opened and she gasped to see the machine smoking and smoldering with bright, multicolored sparks flying in all directions. And then just as soon as she saw that the Doctor filled her view, standing right in front of Jeff and herself, waving his hands excitedly as he cheered.

"Absolutely brilliant!" he said. "The both of you! Absolutely brilliant! Come here!"

Before the Doctor could hug them again Jeff held out his hands. "Doctor if it's just the same, can we skip the hugging and kissing this time?"

The Doctor sighed and shrugged. "I guess it's true what they say about Americans… come along Edison, come along Winger."

Together they left the terrible machine and made their way back to the Tardis, once inside Annie got her first real good look at the damage the cat had done to the Doctor, his coat was ripped and torn and he had several red lines carved along his face. She looked to Jeff, also covered in scratches. She bit her lip then went to her bag and retrieved some disinfectant and cotton swabs from the first aide kit she kept in there for emergencies.

"Just give me a second and I'll have us back up top!" the Doctor said, not really paying attention to them at this point.

"Sit down," Annie said to Jeff as the Doctor worked at the console. "We need to get you cleaned up."

"Don't worry about it Annie," Jeff shrugged. "It's just some cat scratches-"

"That you got in a filthy basement from a cat that lived in that filthy, black mold infested basement, moments before you thought a machine to a smoldering, smoking death. It will only take a second."

"No getting away from Nurse Annie is there?" Jeff cracked a crooked smile.

Annie grinned back and dribbled a bit of disinfectant on the cotton swab, "That's Doctor-"

"Who?" the Doctor said over his shoulder from the console.

"Doctor Annie," Jeff said just before Annie dabbed the swab on one of Jeff's scratches. His teeth immediately clenched and he audibly hissed the moment it made contact. Annie just shook her head and continued working, moving onto another scratch. And doing her best not to make fun of him.

By the time she finished the Doctor had landed the Tardis. He came over to them looking as pleased as he could be with himself and with them, a bright smile across his face as he looped his thumbs underneath his suspender straps. At least until he saw Annie getting up and approaching him with the disinfectant.

…..

It took nearly ten minutes to actually clean the Doctor's wounds and another ten minutes after that to get him to stop complaining about it. By the time Annie and Jeff exited the Tardis she was ready to pull out his floppy hair. How could a nigh immortal time traveler have the pain threshold of a six year old? He made Jeff look manly!

But after the ordeal was finally over, Jeff and Annie stood outside the Tardis, with the Doctor telling them that he would be along shortly. For a few moments they just stood there, looking around the darkened storage room, trying to find words to express exactly how weird the last few hours had been.

Somehow they'd both gone off the crazy end of their respective personalities and then wound up learning that reality was far crazier than either of them could have ever imagined and they both had the distinct impression that they'd only seen the tip of the iceberg.

"So… Annie," Jeff said, obviously searching for anything to say. Finally he took a deep breath, "I think I need to apologize to you too. I kind of acted like a maniac. Even though technically I was right on everything but motive. And… Annie…look, if you like this guy…"

"Jeff, don't," she shook her head. "Yes, I find the Doctor compelling and a bit attractive. But I don't know if I like him… I really don't know what I think of him now! It wasn't like I planned on fainting and having him make a poor attempt at CPR on me. I just… sort of went with it, part of me just wanted to be swept off my feet and he literally did that."

"Right," Jeff said. "And that's why I'm just saying-"

"But it wasn't all just him," Annie said. "I was 'unconscious' when you were putting a wet rag on my head and stroking my cheek and when you took my hand. It was really sweet. So don't… don't try and make any noble gestures about not being jealous that we both know you don't mean."

"I was going to say that he may have a time traveling box but I have a Lexus, and I'm not afraid to show off in it."

Annie laughed in spite of herself and glanced down at her watch. The previous mirth drained from her face when she saw that it still read October 19th until she stared at it and concentrated, only then did the real date show up. Hadn't they fixed it? The Tardis door creaked open just as she was showing Jeff. The Doctor came out and caught sight of her watch.

"Yes, about that," he said, carrying a handbag of some sort under his arm. "No need to worry, the timeline has been fixed, but it will take time for Greendale to realign itself with regular reality. About half a year."

"Half a year?" Annie said. "So we're just supposed to go half a year behind the rest of the world?"

"You'll hardly notice, after a few days you're bodies will adjust with your new, quicker timestream and you won't even notice the time differential anymore. I'd like to get you there sooner but some journey's you can't skip to the end or even want to, even with my Tardis."

"So what now?" Jeff said. "We just pretend this never happened?"

"No of course not!" the Doctor said. "You've been given a unique look into how the universe actually is. I can't expect anyone to ignore that. And… well, I'd like to give the two of you the choice. If you want… you can come with me, all of time and space at your fingertips! Running around like a proper gang so time heroes!"

Annie's mind went to the thoughts she'd used to beat the Nihilistic Brain Computer. The study group, what Greendale had taught her. If she understood right she wouldn't have to necessarily give all of that up to travel with the Doctor, they could always come back to this time. But even as she thought that she knew her answer.

And when she gave it, Jeff spoke at the same time.

"Greendale's where I belong."

"Right," the Doctor said, nodding as if he knew that would be their answer. "In that case I decided to give the two of you parting gifts."

"You're going?" Jeff said.

"Greendale's where you belong, but I belong out there! Running to the next wonder of the universe or the next place that needs me. Or even the next place where I can get myself a jammie dodger."

"Just like Greendale," Annie said. "I mean with the needing you… not the jammie dodger."

"Quite right," the Doctor nodded. "Frankly, I would have gotten here sooner but I had to stop in 2012 to put down a giant rampaging Mayan Robot that would have destroyed the world in a mad race against the clock. It was nothing really, just a matter of reversing the polarity of its eternal destruction emitters, just the typical day on the job. Enjoy December 21st when you get to it!"

"Thanks…" Jeff said.

"Alright," the Doctor clapped his hands together. Now for the gifts! I love giving gifts! Love receiving them too but I'm usually never around on holidays. Anyway for Annie… I noticed that your book bag is filled to bursting, so I got you this!"

The Doctor handed her the handbag, it resembled something Shirley would lug around, only with a more elaborate pattern, almost a Victorian pattern if she had to name one. All in all she didn't quite get it, how could it be better than her normal book bag. At least that's what she thought until she opened it.

"It's bigger on the inside!" she said as she stuck her entire arm in it. "I'll be able to get all my text books for the week in it! Maybe even the whole semester!"

"Great," Jeff muttered. "You created a monster."

"Thought you'd like that," He said. "It was given to me by an old friend, member of my race… now _she_ was a classy lady… anyway! Jeffery! Jeffy, Jeff! Your gift… comes with a few restrictions!"

"Restrictions?" Jeff said.

"Yes," the Doctor handed him a small piece of paper. "This is psychic paper. It's what I used to make your dean think I was qualified to teach at your school. Well, I was _ridiculously_ qualified but he needed documentation. Show this to whomever you like and they'll think it contains whatever certification, clearance, or identification you need them to believe you have. However, it's keyed to my own psychic paper. If you abuse this and use it to cheat in your classes or to get a job, I'll know. And you won't want another visit from me in those circumstances. Understood?"

"Yeah…" Jeff nodded, staring at the paper.

"Alright," the Doctor clapped his hands together. "And with that settled, I must be off! Be sure to stand back the pair of you! And keep your eyes on the Tardis! You'll love the show!"

The Doctor went to his door but Annie stopped him, grabbing his hand so he couldn't go just yet.

"One more thing," she said. "You can travel in time, do you know… you know anything about our future? I mean, the study group, my future, Jeff's future? Anything we should know?"

"As a friend of mine always says," the Doctor smiled. "Spoilers. Just remember the lessons Greendale has taught you and your future will be bright indeed! You've got a wonderful last year of Greendale ahead of you, barring the odd twists and turns, but beyond that the future is whatever you make of it! For the Study Group, for Greendale, and for Jeff and Annie."

"Aw," Annie said and she swore she heard Jeff do it too.

They barely had time to thank him for the gifts and the help before he shut the door. Remembering what he said, Jeff grabbed Annie's hand and backed them away.

Moment's later the whining, wheezing noise of the Tardis reverberated through the room. The light on top flashed brightly and the entire box slowly faded until it was gone and they could only hear the faint echo of its engines.

Together they stood, marveling at what they saw. Annie glanced down at Jeff's hand and then smiled up at him. He glanced down and returned that smile with the one he favored her with many times in the past.

"So," he said. "What now?"

"Now?" Annie grinned. "I say we enjoy the rest of October 19th and the rest of the year that it brings!"

"Hmm," Jeff nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Also, I think we should double check the dean's desk."

"What? Why?"

"In case it's a time desk!"


End file.
